The Berlin Philharmonic will play Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” in New York next year, but it will likely feel right at home: a stage designed to reflect its hometown theater will be built within the Park Avenue Armory.

The concert is part of an eight-day series, starting Oct. 1, for the German orchestra that will include a season-opening gala concert at Carnegie Hall and three subsequent performances, followed by the “Passion” at the Park Avenue Armory as the kickoff event for Lincoln Center’s annual White Light Festival.

Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Park Avenue Armory announced the series on Monday, but the collaboration began brewing as far as 2010, when the Philharmonic played the “Passion,” with the Rundfunkchor Berlin choir and conducted by Simon Rattle, at its local concert hall, the Berliner Philharmonie. The production, led by director Peter Sellars, features singers who interact with each other on a minimalist set as they dramatize the last days of Jesus Christ.

“You feel like you’re in a theater production,” said Lincoln Center’s artistic director, Jane Moss. “It does not remotely feel like a staged concert. I was so knocked out.” Read More »

Joshua Bell rehearsing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

Carnegie Hall and its stagehands reached a new collective bargaining agreement on Friday, bringing the nearly three-day strike to a close and allowing scheduled performances to continue this weekend and beyond.

The agreement creates a new job for Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees within the venue’s new education wing, a 24-room addition that is slated to open in fall 2014.

“In all the rooms that are being used for education, we have the freedom and flexibility that we were seeking,” said Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall. “That is what you need for education — and at a financially viable rate.”

Children in the music rooms will be able to move their own music stands, chairs and instruments. Union stagehands, though, will move large instruments, such a drums or marimbas. “If those are needed, that is stagehands’ work,” said Mr. Gillinson. Read More »

Carnegie Hall announced that it will proceed with its scheduled concert Thursday evening while negotiations continue with its stagehand union, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

The venue is in talks regarding a new labor agreement that would determine if the stagehands’ contract applies to education spaces as well as the buildings’ performance spaces. Carnegie Hall’s new education wing is scheduled to open in fall 2014.

Local One president James J. Claffey, Jr., said in a statement: “We’ve have made significant progress in today’s negotiations and as a gesture of goodwill pulled the picket lines down today to allow the show to go on. We continue to bargain now with the hope of making the deal, but the picket lines will resume tomorrow morning if the agreement is not finalized.” Read More »

Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine, center, conducts the MET Orchestra during a rehearsal in New York’s Carnegie Hall in May.

A union strike forced Carnegie Hall to cancel its Wednesday season-opening concert, which was slated to include violinist Joshua Bell, the Philadelphia Orchestra and bassist Esperanza Spalding.

In a statement, Carnegie Hall said the stagehands’ union, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, was seeking jurisdiction over the venue’s new Education Wing, which could limit the work performed in the new space and jeopardize funding of the educational programs. The new wing is slated to open in fall 2014.

Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, said in a statement: “There is no precedent for this anywhere in New York City.” Read More »

Jeremy Denk will make his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on Sunday.

In Culture City Online, arts reporter and columnist Pia Catton looks at the digital side of Greater New York’s cultural landscape. Read her weekly column and follow her on Twitter.

Classical music fans who follow the blog of pianist Jeremy Denk haven’t had much to read lately — the last post was on “Think Denk” was published on Dec. 29. But those following his career have had a lot to listen to.

After playing an intense schedule in January and February, Denk accepted two major -– and unscheduled — engagements in March when other artists fell ill. From March 17 to 20, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a replacement for Martha Argerich. Denk had one week and two rehearsals to prepare for his debut with the orchestra.

The fair, the first of its kind, includes art from139 galleries from 30 countries; already 10,000 guests have signed up for access. In this case, VIP stands for “Viewing in Private” — which shoppers can do without traveling to an art gallery or bricks-and-mortar art fair.

While looking is free, making contact with a gallery is not. For that, a $100 VIP pass is required. After Jan. 23, the cost drops to $10. And if you do want to snap up one of the many works of sculpture, painting, photography and more, you need to be in touch with the gallery. Read More »